Sabalenka stuns No. 1 Swiatek, faces Garcia for WTA Finals title

FORT WORTH, Texas: Aryna Sabalenka ended top-ranked Iga Swiatek’s 15-match winning streak against top-10 opponents, winning 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 on Sunday night for a spot in the championship of the WTA Finals.

The stunner put Sabalenka in the final against Caroline Garcia, who beat Maria Sakkari 6-3, 6-2 and has a chance to be just the second Frenchwoman to win the title at the season-ending event.

Swiatek, the French Open and US Open champion and runaway leader with eight tour victories, cruised through three round-robin victories, losing just 13 games to give her the longest winning run against top-10 opponents since Steffi Graf won 17 straight in 1987.

Just like that, it was over when the 21-year-old from Poland lost the last five games against a player she had beaten in all four meetings this season.

Sabalenka didn’t make it to the semifinals with the No. 1 ranking in the eight-player event last year. She was in as the seventh-ranked player, and showed how comfortable she was on the temporary indoor hard court at Dickies Arena. Nine of her 10 career victories have come on hard courts.

“I just want to make sure that every time she plays against me, she knows that she really has to work hard to get a win,” Sabalenka said. “Only because of this thinking, I was able to play at this amazing level tonight.”

Swiatek fell behind one break in the final set with two wide forehands before another one put her down two breaks.

Defending doubles champs Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova also advanced to the title match with a 7-6(5), 6-2 semifinal victory over Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko.

Just 24 hours after beating Daria Kasatkina in a tense 80-minute third set to secure the last spot in the semifinals out of